SOLD! - 1964 Gibson Firebird I / 1973 Firebird III PAF conversion Polaris White
Now here's a rare and interesting Bird for you!
First things first: there are no breaks, cracks or repairs to the neck and body and the guitar plays and sounds absolutely amazing - from warm sweet jazzy sounds to full-on blasting Rock & Roll !!!
This über cool FireBird is an original 3.7Kg 1964 FireBird I which was converted to a FireBird III with humbuckers and refinished in Polaris White in 1973. At the time it was routed from a single FireBird mini humbucker to double Humbuckers, a three-way pickup selector switch an two extra POT's. Two of the potentiometers are the original matching CTS 137 6336 (week 36, 1963) and two matching CTS 137 7335 (week 35, 1973). The pickups have been replaced in 2007 with two Gibson '57 Classic PAF humbuckers with powerfull outputs of 7.36k and 8.01k Ohm. Both of the pickups have the rectangular 'reissue' black PAF labels and also small white stickers with "BB #1 7.55 (Wound by PS) 11/21/07 0167" and "BB #2 8.07 (Wound by PS) 11/21/07 0078".
The bridge is a 1960's Gibson ABR-1 retainer bridge with metal saddles, the stud tailpiece is from the 70's. The Thr3ee-layer white over black plastic pickguard with red Firebird emblem appears to be original other than having a small hole drilled to accommodate the three-way pickup selector switch. The banjo-style tuners and the control cavity cover are also original. There is an additional hole on the treble-side of the body just by the controls where it would appear that a jack input was there at sometime - who knows why. The serial number is impressed on the back of the headstock and is a little difficult to read due to the refin but after a proper inspection it seems to be 173017 which would be correct for 1964. There is some very cool finish fading, yellowing and checking on the body and neck and there is some play-wear on the treble-side of the neck from the 1st to the 9th fret, and also some arm wear to the bass top edge of the body. Various dings and dents on the body but this guitar shows remarkably well. Furthermore it's build exactly to '64 specs with a neck-through-body construction with nine-piece laminated mahogany center section and two glued-on wings. The neck is a 5-piece mahogany and walnut neck with a nice nut width of 42mm and a wonderful medium-to-thick profile neck rising gently from the 1st to the 12th fret. The Brazilian rosewood fretboard with 22 medium-jumbo frets and inlaid pearl dot position markers is in very good condition. The headstock has the original reverse gold-painted "Gibson" logo on a black plastic truss-rod cover and the legendary original Kluson Banjo tuners with rearwards metal tulip buttons.
Comes with the original Gibson rectangular black hardshell case with orange plush lining and replaced leather handle.